Managed Node Groups vs Self-Managed Nodes vs Fargate Profiles
~12 min read
The three ways to provide compute capacity to an EKS cluster's data plane, and when to choose each.
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Key points
- •Managed node groups: AWS-managed EC2 ASG, most common default, still your choice of instance types/scaling
- •Self-managed nodes: full AMI/bootstrap control, full lifecycle ownership — chosen for specialized requirements
- •Fargate profiles: no nodes at all for matching pods, best for low-traffic or bursty workloads
- •A cluster can mix all three data-plane options simultaneously, matched per workload